Purifying Flame Inquisitor Build Guide (PoE Synthesis 3.6)

About the Author

Furty has been playing Path of Exile since the release of the Onslaught League in 2013, and has a deep and diverse well of experience within the game. Equally comfortable playing on Hardcore, Softcore, and Solo-Self Found Leagues, Furty finished the Betrayal League at Rank 186 on the ladder playing Elemental Hit. You can follow him on Twitter, or check out his occasional streams on Twitch.

Introduction

Purifying Flame is a relatively new addition to Path of Exile, and was first introduced in Patch 3.6.0 Synthesis League. A rather unique gem in the sea of other skills, Purifying Flame incorporates several different mechanics into each cast. First, it deals damage in a line, before exploding at the targeted location, dealing damage and creating Consecrated Ground. An even larger shockwave of damage then explodes outwards from the targeted location, hitting everything on the Consecrated Ground. If you are not clear on what Consecrated Ground does, it is a mechanic that increases the chance of Critical Strikes against enemies standing on it by a hefty 100%, and it also increases the Life Regeneration of you and allies while standing in its effects.

Overall, the fresh feel of this skill makes it a joy to play. Not only is it straightforward and satisfying, it functions very well on a slim budget, and can achieve several million Shaper DPS (2-5m, depending on gear) without dropping multiple Exalted Orbs. Perhaps best of all, it is a great build for players of all skill levels, and feels familiar in the hands of first-time exiles and grizzled veterans alike. A great leveling skill in its own right, Purifying Flame can be acquired at the very beginning of the game, allowing you to build up comfort with the mechanics and playstyle the build offers. Do not be concerned, however, as this build has the heft and damage to carry you all the way through the end-game.

Build Assessment

Pros

+ Fantastic league starter
+ High damage, 4m+ Shaper DPS in end-game gear
+ Lots of Life Regeneration (20%+ max health per second, not including Consecrated Ground)
+ Good defenses (Mind Over Matter, 10k Effective Health Pool, Life Leech)
+ Great in the hands of first-time novice players and veterans alike; very easy to play
+ Good clear speed
+ Solid lab farmer

Cons

Playstyle and Build Mechanics

This build clears quickly and efficiently, and Purifying Flame‘s Unique mechanics allow it to function as both a clearing and bossing skill without any loss in damage. With well over 15% of Maximum Life regenerated per second with the benefits of Consecrated Ground, the feel of this build is one of stability and consistency. Damage from most enemies is immediately healed away without concern, which is also ideal when the running the Labyrinth, or beast-crafting in your menagerie. This cushion allows the player to make a few mistakes without getting punished, and run through traps and Punctures with reckless abandon.

Since this build can also apply Ignite reliably, we gain a fair amount of burning damage on top of Purifying Flame‘s stellar initial salvo. For clearing this can be a great asset, mopping up any monsters that survive the first hit to eliminate any backtracking. Clearing with this build is extremely easy and straightforward, as all of our damage comes from Purifying Flame, and requires no special ordering or timing of skills, gem swaps, or aura rotations. When dealing with bosses, our high damage output assures relatively quick kills and the ability to melt any adds that may attempt to join the fray, such as the Elder’s portals.

Defensively, there are several ways to build your Inquisitor in order to ensure your stability in the end-game. Life Regeneration fulfills the core of our defenses, but in order to level past 93 without issues, we need to surround ourselves with several more layers of defense. Mind Over Matter combined with Eldritch Battery is a viable option that still allows us to run several auras off of Mana, but requires a little extra gear and some extra Passive Points to properly facilitate. With the prime defensive positioning of Templar on the Passive Skill Tree, a nice helping of Increased Maximum Life and Flat Life can be acquired with little deviation from our desired path. Altogether, this results in a nicely rounded exile that can easily reach 10k Effective Health, all while maintaining extremely high damage and Critical Strike.

Due to the range and large Area of Effect of this build, particularly when using Carcass Jack, you should try to remain at mid-range from your enemies. While we do have fairly potent Effective Health and Regeneration, part of this build’s strength is its ability to destroy things from a safe distance and reposition as necessary. As with most builds in Path of Exile, the best defense is proper movement and positioning.

Passive Skill Tree

This version of the build is the most complete, offering both superb damage and a well-rounded phalanx of defenses. While the build can be comfortably played without Mind Over Matter, the risk of random one-shots — from Syndicate members, heavily modded Rares, and so on — in Tier 16 maps and Delves starts to become too pressing to ignore. For that reason, we recommend sacrificing a small amount of damage in order to provide a significant increase in stability. This addition also makes this a great a build for Hardcore, especially for newer players attempting Hardcore for the first time.

If you want to proceed without Mind Over Matter, you have a few options in how you might allocate the nodes you can drop. Force Shaper can be nice to round the build out once everything else is filled out, and the additional Jewel socket adjacent to Constitution’s “wheel of life” is also a tasty acquisition if you can spare the points.

You may also opt to sacrifice more damage for Life and/or Regeneration, all of which is available if you proceed downwards from Sanctity, into the nodes surrounding the Marauder’s starting wheel.

Gems

Purifying Flame is our main skill for damage in all situations, and fits in to the only 6-Link we will incorporate into the build. Our damage is supported by the Zealotry and Herald of Ash auras, both of which boost our damage by a fair margin, and the latter of which facilitates ignite-chains that clean up enemies that avoid the main blast in an instant. Wave of Conviction and Elemental Weakness debuff tankier targets with debuffs that further empower our damage against them, which can be a noticeable boost when dealing with bosses like the Uber Elder. Armageddon Brand and Power Charge On Critical Support also team up to provide us with a little bit of extra damage and some Power Charges for similar situations.

Intensify Support can also be replaced with Concentrated Effect Support, however, this results in both a damage loss and an Area of Effect loss. It does, however, free you from some of the restrictions of Intensify, which requires you to cast in place sequentially to gain its full power. Fire Penetration Support can also be employed as the next best gem after Concentrated Effect and offers less restrictions on clear and targeting, however, we feel the damage difference is too great — almost a million DPS when weighed against Intensify Support in end-game gear. Most of the disadvantages of Intensify are dealt with by Spell Echo Support, which is why we recommend it as our default choice.

Auras 4-Link

If you want to enable Righteous Fire for this build, you will need to replace Discipline with Vitality. We believe this is unnecessary, since our damage is already quite good and it nulls the benefits of the Life Regeneration as a defense, however, it does at about 1 million DPS in end-game gear. If you are using Mind Over Matter without Eldritch Battery, or not using either, you can drop Discipline entirely.

If you prefer to use a higher level golem, you may opt to level it to 20 instead. In our experience, however, having the automatic re-summon is usually best, as it results in the highest uptime, and the Summon Stone Golem has a tendency to die often due to its taunt.

Warlord's Mark can also be used for greater defense, especially early on. It is largely a choice between defense and damage — the endurance charges will also provide you with extended Physical immunity due to Immortal Call. If you are using a Shaped neck that has % Chance to Gain a Power, Endurance, or Frenzy Charge on Kill, this curse is not necessary even for defense. Drop the curse from this link entirely, in favor of Increased Duration Support, if you are using Mark of Submission.

You can opt to replace Culling Strike Support with a gem of your own choosing, such as Increased Critical Strikes Support if your Critical Strike is low. Culling Strike feels especially nice on bosses like Aul, the Crystal King or Uber Elder, however, due to its ability to instantly end the boss when it reaches 10% Life.

Defensive 3-Link

These links are mostly Player’s Preference, however, we have provided two example links that could be used depending on your weapons and preference.

This link is another Cast when Damage Taken Support link, and automatically slows the Attack, Cast, and Movement speed of your foes. You may need to lower the level of Cold Snap, depending on how much Dexterity you have.

Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon

Ascendancy

Sanctuary

Pious Path

Augury of Penitence

Righteous Providence

Additional Information

Sanctuary is best taken immediately, especially if you are League Starter, as it eliminates all of your Mana problems and ensures you have your Life Regeneration from Consecrated Ground whenever you are not moving, which is great for early bosses. The damage increase is a nice boost in the late-game, but perhaps most importantly, this node gate-keeps the way to Pious Path.

Pious Path provides immunity to Elemental Ailments, which frees up a lot of Flasks and is a great overall defensive boost. 200 Energy Shield regeneration per second while on Consecrated Ground also enables Eldritch Battery to be an easy solution to the Mind Over Matter Mana problem, which grants us the ability to run all of our Auras without issue. Finally, the damage boost is significant, and pairs perfectly with Intensify Support.

Augury of Penitence is a simple analog damage increase, as well as a defensive boost against Elemental Damage.

Righteous Providence provides an exceptional amount of damage once you have the gear to support it. It can and should be taken third over Augury if you are not League Starting and already have end-game level gear.

Deal with the Bandits Reward

We recommend helping Alira to start out, as the Resistances when League Starting are invaluable and the Multiplier feeds into our damage perfectly. Late-game, however, we can squeeze a little more out of the 2 Passive Points.

Pantheon Bonus

Pantheon is largely a matter of personal preference and depends somewhat on what gear you have available.

Major Gods

Soul of Arakaali is a great choice for nearly any situation, and the upgrades for it are perfect for the build — in particular, the Life and Energy shield regeneration are an excellent complement. Soul of Solaris is the best choice for bossing and Uber Elder when fully upgraded.Soul of the Brine King is a good choice for general mapping, to prevent Stun Chains, if this is something that your exile is struggling with.

Minor Gods

Soul of Shakari is the best overall option for most situations, with an upgrade that eliminates Poison as a map affix entirely.

Gear Summary / TL;DR

These items strike a balance between power and cost-effectiveness. If you want to explore more options for budget or “GG” gear, see recommendations about Jewels or Flasks, or get more information on alternatives and specialty items, please ensure you read the Gear, Jewels, and Flasks section in its entirety.

*See Weapons section for more information on Dual-Wielding versus using a Shield.

Gear, Jewels, and Flasks

Armor

Chest

Carcass Jack is our default pick for our chest piece. Not only is it a reasonably cheap acquisition, even on League Start, but it offers a huge increase to Area of Effect and damage, which feeds into Purifying Flame perfectly. Not only does the added Area of Effect speed up our clear, it also boosts the size of the Consecrated Ground left behind on impact. Finally, the nice combination of Life, Evasion and Energy Shield, and Elemental Resistances add a nice defensive trinity that makes this chest hard to argue with for its price.

Loreweave is a great option for the end-game, but is only worth using over Carcass Jack if you can afford a high-tier roll. This chest is particularly good for bossing, such as Uber Elder and Shaper, where the added Area bonus of the Carcass Jack is not much of a boon. The additional maximum Resistances also help minimize the chance of a one-shot death to big Elemental “rogue-wave” style attacks.

Helmet

The Devouring Diadem is the best overall choice, as it allows us to run all of our auras in our helmet for a greatly reduced cost, as well as providing Eldritch Battery innately and voiding the need for an additional 2 Passive Point investment. Energy Shield recharge chance on skill use is also a great bonus, and helps ensure we are not running dry on Energy Shield from Mind Over Matter. It can vary wildly in price, depending on the league and the availability, and enchants are not always as easy to spot, which is one unfortunate downside.

A Rare helmet will also be a perfectly acceptable alternative, although you will not be able to run all three auras at once. You can opt to run Vitality instead of Discipline in the meantime — depending on your Energy Shield rating, it might be difficult to sustain Mind Over Matter. If this is the case, you can drop Eldritch Battery and Mind Over Matter for the time being, run Vitality, and rely on the large pool of Life Regeneration as your primary defense. If you are using Spiritual Aid on the tree and are not running Discipline or Mind Over Matter, you should use a Bone Helmet for the damage. Prioritize the stats as follows:

[Uncapped] Resistances

+# to Maximum Life

Nearby Enemies have -% to Fire Resistance (Delve)

Dexterity/Strength/Intelligence

Recommended Enchantments:

Purifying Flame deals 40% increased Damage

If you are using the Spiritual Aid node on the tree without Mind Over Matter, you should use the Bone Helmet implicit instead

Boots

A pair of Rare boots is a great choice, and can be used throughout the entire end-game. If you need more of a buffer for Mind Over Matter, look for an Energy Shield base. An ideal choice is an Armor/Energy Shield hybrid, such as one of Two-Toned Boots bases.

If you are using Kaom's Roots for Uber Elder you could also opt to have the 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently on your mapping/clearing boots.

Weapons and Shield

Shaped Weapons

Dual-Wielding Shaped Sceptres are far and away the best option for damage, as well as the end-game. The amount of extra damage you will gain actually has a direct defensive benefit, as your damage output will at least double using these. Enough damage to quickly deal with the phases of bosses like Uber Elder makes the fight far easier and more survivable.

The Sambar Sceptre is the best base for our build. Good Shaped Weapons can be easily crafted and for very cheap price (only ~3 Exalted Orbs per weapon) compared to buying them off of another player, which will cost five times as much. Having Shaped weapons is not necessary to make the build work effectively, but once you are up and running and have some excess currency to spend, these weapons are likely going to be the best possible use of wealth.

Here is an example pair of Sceptres crafted for about 6.5 Exalted Orbs total.

You will need to purchase the base item (An Item Level 80+ Shaped Sambar Sceptre, or other base of your choice) to get started.

Make the Sceptre Magic quality

Use Orb of Alterations on it until you get the Gain % of Physical Damage as Bonus Fire Damage mod. This is easiest to craft if you find this mod alone, so do not use an Orb of Augmentation if this happens. If the item has a Suffix, it should be a high tier roll of Critical Strike Chance for Spells, Increased Cast Speed, Global Critical Strike Multiplier, or Damage Penetrates % of Elemental Resistances (9-10% only).

The prefix or suffix from the Regal Orb must be one of the following in order to proceed, and it should be of a moderate or high tier:

Gain % of Physical Damage as Extra Lightning Damage

% Increased Spell Damage

% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells

% Increased Cast Speed

% Increased Fire Damage

Adds # Fire Damage to Spells

% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier

If it is not one of the above stats, use an Orb of Annulment on the item. If Gain % of Physical Damage as Bonus Fire Damage is annulled, you will have to start over using an Orb of Scouring.

After you have a Rare Sceptre with either Gain % of Physical Damage as Bonus Fire Damage by itself, or with 1-2 nicely rolled damage mods, depending on how the above steps played out, proceed to craft Can Have Multiple Crafted Mods onto your Sceptre, then craft these mods:

% Increased Spell Damage

% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells

% Increased Cast Speed

Adds # Fire Damage to Spells

If you have any questions about stats or other recommended stats to craft, please feel free to ask in the comments section below! Congratulations, your weapons are now complete.

League Starting and Budget Weapons

Cerberus Limb is a great blend of damage, defense, and economy — even relatively early in the league, this can be obtained extremely cheaply. Playing with the Spell Vampirism feels very smooth, and adds even more incoming Life per second on top of our already excellent Regeneration. This is a great first pickup if you do not have much currency to spare.

Accessories

Amulet

A Rare amulet is the best choice here, as it offers the most flexibility and damage. Xoph's Blood is completely unnecessary for these build due to the proximity of Avatar of Fire, and is actually quite a noticeable damage loss compared with even a moderately well rolled Rare. Try to find Resistances on other items as much as possible in order to budget for damage on this piece. Prioritize affixes as follows:

+# to Maximum Life

Gain % of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage (Elder)

% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier

% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance

% Chance to Gain a Power, Endurance, or Frenzy Charge on Kill (Shaped)

% Increased Fire Damage

% Increased Spell Damage

% of Fire Damage Leeched as Life (only if you have no source of Life Leech already)

Resistances

Attributes (Strength or Dexterity)

Rings

Gifts from Above is a no-brainer for this build, do to our virtually permanent Consecrated Ground. It is very cheap and should be one of your first acquisitions on this character.

Mark of Submission is usually a relatively budget pickup, and can be an option early in the league in order to apply your curse of choice without relying on any other mechanics.

A Rare ring should replace Mark of Submission as soon as you are able to afford a decently rolled one. Prioritize as follows:

[Uncapped] Resistances

+# to Maximum Life

Curse Enemies with Warlord's Mark on Hit (Elder — only if you want to use Warlord’s Mark as your curse)

% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier (Elder)

% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance (Shaped)

% Increased Fire Damage

Adds # Fire Damage Against Ignited Enemies (Elder)

% Increased Damage (Crafted)

Attributes (Strength or Dexterity)

Belt

A Leather Belt is the best base, but only if you can get an Elder version with the correct affix. This is due to the % Increased Life Regeneration Rate affix, which acts a multiplier for your Life Regeneration. If you cannot afford the Elder belt — which can be very expensive due to its prolific use in Life Regeneration and Righteous Fire builds — you should instead use a Rare Stygian Vise.

% Increased Life Regeneration Rate (Elder)

[Uncapped] Resistances

+# to Maximum Life

% Increased Fire Damage (Delve)

% Increased Damage

Dexterity

Jewels

As with most builds that use classic Auras, a Watcher's Eye is going to be your best bet in the late-game. This is not necessary at all for the build and was excluded from any of the damage stats and calculations, simply because it will not be a realistic acquisition for many players.

Consecrated Ground you create while affected by Zealotry causes enemies to take % increased Damage

% increased Cast Speed while affected by Zealotry

Abyss Jewels

In most cases, the use of Abyss Jewels is preferred over standard Jewels.

+# to Maximum Health

Adds Fire Damage to Spells while Dual-Wielding OR while Holding a Shield (depending on what your weapons are)

Adds Fire Damage to Spells

Adds Physical Damage to Spells while Dual-Wielding OR while Holding a Shield (depending on what your weapons are)

% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier

% to Global Critical Strike Chance

Flasks

Flasks can be swapped out as your preference suits. Fortunately, we have Elemental Ailment immunity from Pious Path, which means we have some extra wiggle room with how we budget our Flask suffixes. Our recommended Flasks:

Chemist’s Basalt Flask of Staunching/Warding

The Wise Oak (Fire must be your highest Resistance, or they must be evenly balanced)

Use Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching when you are starting early mapping. Once you feel comfortably with your defenses, and your Life Regeneration is sufficient, you may decide to swap it out. Atziri's Promise can also be used as a cheap and effective means of increasing Damage slightly and bolstering leech.

You can only have three out of four of these suffixes with this setup:

Staunching

Order

Warding

Adrenaline

You will have to decide for yourself which suffixes you can live without; for example, some players find playing without a curse flask to be acceptable and they avoid maps with Temporal Chains. Our preference is to always play with a Curse Immunity flask, as curses result in a significant number of unexpected player deaths. For maximum survivability, drop the of Order suffix in favor of of Warding. For the best general damage setup, drop the of Staunching suffix and rely on your Life Regeneration to sustain through bleeds.

Leveling Trees

FAQ

Bottled Faith is an excellent flask for this build, however, it does require you to drop another Flask suffix if you want to incorporate it into your regular clear. See the flask section for more information.

How About Low-Life / Chaos Innoculation?

This build is absolutely doable as a fully Energy Shield build, and can even be better in many cases. Be aware, however, that this is far less friendly towards newer players and far more expensive to execute. If you are League Starting, you will definitely want to start out as a Life based character until you have amassed a good amount of currency.

If you have questions on how to adapt this build to Chaos Innoculation or Low-Life, please ask in the comments.

Yes, you can use Pledge of Hands early on to supplement your damage, however, since there are several cheap and effect 1-handed options we do not recommend investing currency into properly linking this staff.